MOUTHGUARDS THAT LIGHT up to indicate a player has suffered a significant head impact will be used at the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Mouthguards will flash red if the impact is severe enough to potentially cause a concussion. The referee will then stop play and the player will leave the field for a head injury assessment.

The aim is to introduce the system into all top-flight rugby.

Dr Eanna Falvey, the chief medical officer at World Rugby, said every player at the Women’s World Cup, which starts on 22 August, will wear the mouthguards, apart from two who wear braces.

He added that in the men’s game around 85% of players wear so-called “smart mouthguards”, which are not compulsory.

The mouthguards measure how much a player’s head moves and rotates in a collision. When it registers an acceleration above a set limit, it will flash.

World Rugby data indicates that while concussion rates are similar in women’s and men’s rugby, “head acceleration” events are significantly less likely for female players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJTnHgi7PQ

World Rugby brought in the “instrumented mouthguard” at the women’s international tournament in 2023 before introducing it globally the following year.

Scotland hooker George Turner was the first elite male player to be taken off for a head injury assessment after his gumshield detected a potentially worrying head impact in a match against France in last year’s Six Nations.

Dr Lindsay Starling, World Rugby’s science and medical manager, speaking alongside Falvey at a Twickenham press conference on Monday, said the aim was to help players rather than merely accumulate information. 

“The data set that has grown over the last year is huge,” he said.

“So now it’s actually making sure that it doesn’t just become a data collection exercise but we actually understand what that data means and then start putting things in place for players such that they are actually benefiting from the data that’s being collected.”

Starling added mouthguards could help identify foul play, although she warned: “What everybody needs to understand that, in the same way, a player can get concussed from a pretty small head impact, foul play (can take place) without registering anything substantial.”

Head injuries have become an issue in rugby union as the game has become increasingly physical in the professional era.

A group of nearly 300 former players launched legal action over brain injuries in December 2023.

The players allege World Rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union and England’s Rugby Football Union failed to establish reasonable measures to protect their health and safety.

Injuries from head blows are said to have caused other disorders including motor neurone disease, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Ireland open their World Cup campaign against Japan in Northampton on 24 August, before games against Spain (31 August) and New Zealand (7 September).

– © AFP 2025 

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.